To Microsoft, The VR Market Is Not Big Enough To Invest For Xbox

2023 might mark a big momentous shift for the virtual reality market. This year alone has featured some of the newest hardware on the way for the growing industry subgenre. Earlier this February, Sony Interactive Entertainment shipped the PlayStation VR 2. The new peripheral features improvements over the PlayStation 4 predecessor with eye tracking, improved panel resolution per eye, and 3D audio.

Additionally, Meta is still very much involved in the market with its own Meta Quest 3 on the way as well. The newest iteration is to cost $499 featuring a smoother performance of the Quest 2 whilst pushing double the graphical resolution as well. Even Apple announced its own Vision Pro XR headset marked at the very Apple $3,499 price.

As for Microsoft, the Xbox firm still has cold feet regarding virtual reality. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty explains that the consumer base is not big enough for Microsoft to tackle for its video game division.

I think for us, it’s just a bit of wait until there’s an audience there. We’re very fortunate that we have got these big IPs that have turned into ongoing franchises with big communities. We have 10 games that have achieved over 10 million players life-to-date, which is a pretty big accomplishment, but that’s the kind of scale that we need to see success for the game and it’s just, it’s not quite there yet with AR, VR.

On PC, there is Microsoft Mixed Reality which virtual reality headset owners can indulge themselves with using most third-party VR devices. And even nodding towards the Microsoft HoloLens, but the Xbox firm is not there yet when it comes to its own retail virtual reality peripheral. Booty’s statement is an ongoing tune that Xbox executive have sung for a few years now.

In a previous interview with Kinda Funny Games, Phil Spencer told then that virtual reality was not part of its plans for Xbox. Spencer did go on to celebrate Meta’s Quest 2 as the most ideal approach to virtual reality yet skews the market to be more niché and rather unessential for the Xbox ecosystem. You can read the full report by heading here.

What is your response to Xbox’s comment towards virtual reality?

Source: The Hollywood Reporter